The Ties That Bind
by duckllingswan
Summary: Emma's finger tips glowed with her magic, ready to attack, half expecting to find her parent's lifeless bodies on the ground and her brother crying in his crib while a new enemy stood over them. Except all she found was her mother clutching the baby to her chest, bouncing him in her arms, murmuring soothing sounds that were laced with an edge of panic. Charming Swan Family fic.


_A/N: _I've got a lot of headcanons about baby Charming and for the things to come with him. And I'm still reeling in the aftermath of the angst fest that was 4x07, so here's some Charming Family Feels and Fluff with a dash of our favorite darling pirate for you guys. __

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><p>Emma and Killian pulled up outside of the building of her parent's apartment and ran inside. They had just been ready to leave the sheriff's station to grab lunch at Granny's when they got a phone call from her mother. Her heart stopped as her little brother's cries filtered through the phone and she heard the frantic edge to Mary Margaret's voice. "Emma, can you please come over right away. We need your help." Then the phone cut out before she could explain anymore.<p>

The two raced over to the building, dread and worry lodged heavily in her chest and the moment they stepped into the lobby, they could hear her brother's wails drift down the stairwell to the first floor lobby. Suddenly, the lights overhead began to flicker ominously and Emma felt a surge of magic that was not her own hum over her skin; it made a shiver run down her spine as her fear mounted. The pair looked at one another and Emma immediately took off at a run up the stairs with Killian close behind.

"Mom! Dad!" She shouted as she reached the door to the loft, hackles raised at the thought of her family in danger and her magic immediately rose to the surface, ready to be used if necessary.

Emma didn't bother waiting for an answer. They burst through the door, Emma's finger tips glowed white with her magic, ready to attack, half expecting to find her parent's lifeless bodies on the ground and her brother crying in his crib while a new enemy stood over them with a malicious grin. Except the only thing she found was her mother clutching little Neal to her chest, bouncing him in her arms, murmuring soothing sounds that were laced with an edge of panic while David stood beside his wife helplessly with a pained look on his face at his son's desperate cries, running a hand through his already messy hair. But what brought Emma to a stop, was the state of _destruction_ the loft was in.

Glass from every picture frame, window, and light bulb was shattered and littered the floor and nearly every surface. Books were no longer in their neat, organized place on the bookshelf but strewn across the apartment as if someone had picked them up and hurled them across the room. Plates and glasses laid in broken shambles across the counter tops and floor. Lamps and chairs had overturned, and the TV sat on the entertainment stand broken and smoking.

"What the hell?" Emma murmured as she turned to her parents and watched Mary Margaret's face crumble as Neal's cries grew louder. His arms flailed and his back stiffened and arched in her arms and the lights flickered and sparked once more. It was then that Emma realized that the unfamiliar magic she felt humming around her was, in fact, her _brother's_.

For just a moment, Emma's mind flashed back to her foster system files and the file notes she had read over and over again, trying to make sense of the notes when they were filled with phrases like, '_strange occurrences_' and '_violent and destructive_' and '_temperamental_'. It made Emma wonder if this was the kind of damage she left in her wake as a child. If she had, she suddenly realized why no one wanted to adopt her.

Her mother's voice broke Emma from her thoughts when she said in a quiet, tearful voice, "Neal's hasn't been feeling well, we think he has a cold. He's been so upset. Nothing we do will calm him down. A-a-and then... And then things started happening. Th-the lights and the glass and... We don't know what to do, Emma. We don't know how to make it stop. Help us. Please." Mary Margaret's lip trembled as a tear slipped down her cheek and Neal suddenly flailed harder, rubbing his tired little eyes and tugging on his ears.

"We've tried _everything_. We've tried singing to him, reading to him, rocking him. But nothing will soothe him and he _hates_ taking his medicine. He just gets more and more upset," David said, his voice breaking slightly. He looked at Emma with eyes filled with worry. "We didn't know who else to call. You were the only one we thought could help him."

Emma wasn't sure where it came from, but a protective instinct both maternal and sisterly rose up in her as she immediately strode forward purposefully, her boots crunching over bits of glass. "Let me take him," Emma said calmly, her arms held out.

Mary Margaret handed her little boy off without hesitation and she seemed to slump against David's side as he wrapped his arm around her, rubbing his hand soothingly up and down her back. Emma jumped a little when she took Neal in her arms, feeling his magic spark against hers in a strange and electrifying way, but not otherwise unpleasant. She assumed he must have felt the gentle hum too because his cries became more shrill and his body tensed as one of the last remaining light bulbs burst.

"Shhh, shh. Hey, hey, hey, it's okay little guy," Emma murmured quietly to her brother and she willed her magic to calm so as not to agitate him more. "It's just me, your big sis. It's okay. You're okay." She stroked her hand over his fingers and continued to talk softly and gently swayed him back and forth. "You're a powerful little guy, huh?" she wondered aloud.

"Must run in the family..." Killian muttered from where he stood by her parents surveying the room's damage with something akin to awe. She peeked up at him and gave him a shy little smile, which he returned with a wink and a soft smile of his own.

"I can feel it. You're so little but you've already got this crazy power in you. You may just give your big sis a run for her money," Emma said softly. She noticed his cries seemed less panicked and his body less tense as she talked and swayed with him. "You're afraid, aren't you, kiddo?" Emma thought aloud, running a finger gently across his tear stained cheek as she tried to think back on her earliest memories of her magic rearing its ugly head. She remembered the fear at the powerful surge within her, but with no clue on how to tame it. She remembered the threatening flicker of the lights, the sound of shattering glass and the overwhelming feeling of absolute confusion and isolation that came with living with magic in a world where it was a thing of fiction.

"You don't know what's going on and you don't feel well and you're feeling something completely new and strong and it's scary, isn't it? But you know what, kiddo?" she said and continued as Neal's cries grew steadily softer.

Emma glanced up at her parents to see smiles of relief had spread across their faces as they nodded, encouraging her to continue whatever it was she was doing. Emma smiled down at her little brother as she paced in a small circle, keeping her voice soft and light. "That's okay. It's okay to be scared because this is brand new," she said. "But you don't have to be, because you have a Mom and a Dad who love you very much, and uncle who tells the _best_ stories, and a pirate captain who will probably always try to recruit you to his ranks even though your dad wants you to be a knight. And you've got the best big sister who will help you through this, 'cause I've been there kiddo, I know what it's like, but you don't have to go through this alone like I did and then maybe one day when you're old enough you'll be powerful enough to take over for me as the Savior. And between you and me, kid, that's okay 'cause I'm starting to get too old for this job anyway. But at least we're keeping it all in the family, right? Don't worry, I'll be sure to show to you the ropes. Accidents will happen, but that's okay too because we all love you no matter what and we will help you learn from it and get through this, kid."

As Emma came to the end of her little pep talk, Neal's cries had died down to nothing but quiet whimpers. "There we go. That's better," she breathed with a smile as she pressed a gentle kiss to her brothers downy head. He snuggled further into her embrace as he let out a little snuffle through his stuffy nose and his eyes grew heavy with sleep, exhaustion finally taking him under.

"How did you do that?" Mary Margaret said just barely above a whisper as if she was afraid to shatter the silence, her eyes wide with shock and relief. David sighed a little at the quiet, but looked at his daughter with absolute pride.

Emma shrugged. "I just talked to him. Reassured him."

A look of defeat crossed her mother's face. "But we've been doing that!" her mother exclaimed in a whisper. She moved over to a stool at the island and slumped down onto it, burying her face in her hands. "I don't even know how to comfort my child. I am a terrible mother. I've failed you _both_," she cried helplessly.

Emma went and placed the sleeping baby into his pack and play (thankful it hadn't been destroyed or covered in glass during her brother's rampage), before joining her mother at the counter. "You are _not _a terrible mother and you have definitely not failed us." She placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. "He was upset, his magic came out of nowhere, and you were scared."

Mary Margaret's face shot up and looked at her daughter imploringly. "I am _not_ afraid of my children because you have magic. I love you. _Both_ of you just as you are."

"I know that. And I'm sure Neal knows that too," Emma said. "But you can't tell me you weren't a little worried when his magic came out."

"It did kind of come out of nowhere. I don't know how we could be so surprised. He's as much a product of True Love as you are. We should have seen this coming," David replied, shamefaced.

"It's ok to be a little scared. Parenting is terrifying enough with a normal kid let alone with a kid that can destroy a room with a single tantrum. And I'm sure it scared him too. Using magic is a... _weird_ feeling when you don't know what it is or understand what is going on," she explained. "You were frightened and I'm sure he sensed that a little bit. So things got worse."

"As that how you felt with your magic?" Mary Margaret asked softly.

Emma's mind went back to that day at the sheriff's station when twenty-eight years worth of anger and fear and insecurity reared up as the Snow Queen pushed all the right buttons. But all of that was nothing compared to the look in her family's eyes, seeing the destruction she caused, fearing that everything the wretched Snow Queen was true. That they had come to see her as a monster after all.

Emma swallowed thickly and nodded.

"Oh, Emma. Sweetheart..." Mary Margaret reached over and gripped Emma's hand tightly.

"How do we help him?" David asked. "What can we do?"

"Just keep showing him your never ending love and support. That's what helps me," Emma said with a shrug, giving her parents a gentle smile and her eyes quickly shifted over to Killian, who stood watching her with delight. "But most importantly, try to remember to stay calm. This is going to happen again, I can guarantee it, but you just have to calmly talk him down. Let him know it's okay to use his magic, because it's a part of him and it always will be, but if you teach him how to calm himself, then maybe the damage won't be quite as bad as he gets older."

"Is that what you did?" Mary Margaret asked. "Taught yourself how be calm during a... an episode?" Her eyes were wide and beseeching for more, enjoying this brief glimpse into Emma's childhood. But her expression fell when Emma scoffed.

"No. I bottled it up. I ignored it because it scared the hell out of me and I had no one to talk to about it. And well... 28 years later it ended up blowing a hole through the sheriff's station..." Emma frowned at the memory. But looked up her parents with a sad smile. "Just keep doing what you're doing, keep loving him for who he is and you'll all be just fine. And maybe..." Emma said, looking around the state of the apartment, "Get yourselves a really good vacuum, because he hasn't even hit his terrible twos yet, and I have a feeling he's gonna put you guys through the ringer."

Her parents chuckled as they looked around their home with a grimace. "Wouldn't expect anything less. Where do we even begin with cleaning this place up?" David said.

"I was told little boys make quite the mess, but something tells me this isn't quite what everyone meant," Mary Margaret muttered with a grimace as she saw her favorite coffee mug broken into a million pieces.

"Maybe I can help with the clean up," Emma chimed in.

"I think you've helped enough, Em. Seriously, you were a life saver today," David replied.

Emma grinned. "I was happy I could help. But let me try something. I've been practicing with my own magic. Maybe it'll save you guys some time." She hopped up from her stool and assessed the situation and decided on a course of action. With the flick of her wrist, the books scattered across the floor jumped back to their place on the shelf. She focused her mind and watched as the furniture righted itself to its proper place. And with the wave of her hands, there was a bright pulse of light around the room; the glass disappeared from the surfaces around the loft and the pictures and windows and lights were repaired.

"Bloody brilliant. Well done, Swan," Killian murmured with his usual tone of reverence and pride. He stepped up beside her and pressed a soft kiss to her hair as he grinned, blue eyes shining as he looked gazed down at her.

She grinned back and looked back at her handy work but frowned as she gazed more closely at the room. All of the books at returned to the shelf, but some of them were turned with their spines facing inward. And when she looked at the picture frames she noticed that some of them were still cracked or missing pieces of glass. "Hmmm," she muttered. "Close, but still not quite right. I wonder what I did wrong..." she said, mostly to herself. Then she glanced down at the TV and looked at it curiously. It was no longer smoking, but still broken. "And I'm not sure how to fix the TV. I've never done electronics. Too many parts." She scowled at them as if she were personally offended at the fact that they weren't quite fixed.

David chuckled as he walked over to her. "That's okay. We can get new picture frames. And don't worry about the TV. I've been looking for an excuse to get one of those big flat screen TVs for ages," he said with a wink as he pulled his daughter in for a hug. "Thank you for everything. We are so proud of you, Emma," David whispered as he cradled her head in his hand. She squeezed him tighter and bit back her tears, still taken aback by the love she openly received from her family, love she never thought in her whole life she would ever find.

When David released her, she was immediately enveloped into her mother's arms, who didn't even try to hide the tears streaming down her blotchy red cheeks as she smiled at her daughter. "You are amazing," Mary Margaret told her. "And your brother is so very lucky to have a big sister like you."

Emma felt one traitorous tear slip down her cheek at the pride in her mother's voice. "Thanks, mom," Emma whispered shyly. Mary Margaret grinned when she stepped back, looking at her with a whirl wind of emotions in her eyes before she shook herself and said, "How about some lunch? You two hungry?"

"Sure," Emma said with a laugh.

"How does grilled cheese and tomato soup sound?" Her mother asked.

"That sounds perfect."

As she and Killian took their seats at the breakfast bar, her mother pulled ingredients out of the fridge. When Mary Margaret pulled a frying pan from a shelf, she let out a surprised little, "Oh!" Turning the pan over the trash can, she brushed two little bits of glass from it. "Hmm, I have a feeling we'll be finding glass everywhere for days, even with your quick little clean up," she said with a little laugh as she washed out the pan.

"Yeah, I wouldn't suggest walking around barefoot for a couple of days," Emma said with a chuckle.

While Emma munched happily on her homemade lunch, leaning slightly into Killian's side, while her father sat beside her reading an article on his phone discussing the merits of an LED vs. an LCD TV and her mother chatted lovingly about Neal learning how to clap, Emma felt an overwhelming sense of peace and happiness and _home_ as she was surrounded by the people she loved and who loved her in return.

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><p><em>AN Reviews are always appreciated, my darlings. Thanks for reading. _


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